Heroes of the East
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| Heroes of the East | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Chia-Liang Liu |
| Release date(s) | 1979 |
| Running time | 100 min |
| Country |  Hong Kong |
| Language | Mandarin |
| IMDb profile | |
Heroes of the East, also known as Challenge of the Ninja and Shaolin vs. Ninja and Shaolin Challenges Ninja is a martial arts film produced in 1978. It starred Gordon Liu and was directed by Lau Kar-Leung. Lau Kar-Leung has a cameo role as a master of Drunken kung fu.
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[edit] Plot
Ah To (played by Gordon Liu) is a kung fu student. His rich father has set up an arranged marriage for him with the daughter of a Japanese business associate. Ah To initially objects but later agrees to the marriage. He is initially happy when he sees his bride, Kuda, is attractive. After the wedding, he finds out that she is also a martial artist. However, Ah To finds her style of karate to be unladylike and tries to persuade her to learn female styles of Chinese kung-fu. She is offended and eventually separates from him by returning to Japan. Kuda returns to her sensei (and possibly ex-boyfriend) Sanzo.
As a ruse to bring her back to China, Ah To sends her a letter challenging Japanese martial arts with the superiority of Chinese kung fu. Ah To hopes that the letter will infuriate Kuda enough to return to prove that her Japanese styles are as good as the Chinese ones. Once back in China, Ah To hopes to reconcile with her. But the plan backfires when Sanzo reads the letter instead of Kuda. Sanzo reads the challenge as an affront to Japanese martial arts and responds by contacting several Japanese martial-arts masters. This group travels to China to take up Ah To's challenge.
In the first duel, Ah To misinterprets a gesture from the Japanese fighter and thus further antagonizes the Japanese contingent. Due to this misunderstanding, the Japanese no longer treat the subsequent duels as exhibitions of their styles but rather as an all-out fights. Kuda, seeing the gravity of the situation, helps out Ah To by warning him of Sanzo's mastery of ninjutsu.
[edit] Martial arts
The film is noted for the exhibitions of various martial-arts styles and weapons:
- Japanese katana vs Chinese Jian (double-edged long sword)
- Sino-Okinawan Karate vs Chinese Drunken kung fu
- Japanese Nunchaku and tonfa vs Chinese Three sectional staff (melee weapons)
- Japanese Yari vs Chinese Qiang (spears)
- Japanese Sai vs Chinese Butterfly sword (short swords)
- Japanese Judo vs peanut oil (a comedic duel)
- Japanese ninja skills Hensojutsu, Shinobi-iri vs peanut shells (another comedic duel)
- Japanese Shuriken, darts vs Chinese needles, sleeve arrows (throwing weapons)
- Japanese Kusarigama as compared to Chinese Rope Dart (chained/roped weapons)
- Japanese Ninjatō vs Chinese Dao (single-edged broadsword/saber)
- Japanese crab-style vs Chinese Crane kung fu
In a departure from the norm for a Hong Kong film of that time, instead of stereotyping the Japanese characters as villains, the film portrays both the Japanese characters and their fighting skills with respect. Another unusual aspect of the film is that director Lau insisted that none of the fights ended in death. It is consistent with Lau's insistence on no characters being killed when in the film, Ah To criticizes the lethal technique of Ninjitsu as being dishonorable. He refers to it as an "ambush" only used by "treacherous criminals", and by contrast "the way of (Chinese) kung fu emphasizes on being fair and open". (All quotes were taken from the subtitle translation used on the Celestial Pictures/IVL DVD release. The English dubbed version, usually titled Shaolin vs. Ninja, is even more harsh in its assessment of Ninjutsu, with Ah To referring to it as "murder" instead of "ambush".)
[edit] Cast
- Leung Sha Fei Au
- Chan Lung
- Cheng Hong-Yip - Chow Kan
- Ching Miao
- Norman Chu - Chang
- Ha Ping
- Linda Lin Di Ho
- Hsiao Ho
- Huang Pa-Ching
- Maozo Kato
- Kei Ho Chiu
- Yasuaki Kurata - Takeno, Japanese ninjutsu expert
- Lee Hoi San - Bald Pupil
- Gordon Liu - Ho Tao
- Lau Kar-leung - Drunken Master
- Lui Hung
- Yasutaka Makazaki - Japanese Sai expert
- Yûko Mizuno - Kung Zi
- Hitoshi Omae - Japanese judo expert
- Poon Bin Seung
- San Sin
- Manabu Shirai
- Sumi Tetsu - Karate expert
- Wilson Tong
- Takeshi Yamamoto - Japanese Kendo expert
- Nobuo Yana - Japanese spear expert
- Yeung Wah
- Yuen Siu Tien - Tao's Teacher
